house

Getting Closer

~ joelshaw@sbcglobal.net ~ Leave a comment

My KIMG0044Grand National is getting closer to running correctly in its almost stock form. I put a manual boost controller on today. Before you start complaining about everything being zip tied together, I need to point out a couple of things. First of all, I find the term “zip tie” rather offensive. They are called racing ties. Secondly, this isn’t permanent. Even though they seem to have decent reviews, I don’t trust the boost controller I bought.  I will re plumb it in a semi professional manner if it works as advertised.

The biggest reason that I don’t trust the boost controller is that it cost only $11.99 on ebay (with free shipping). The second biggest reason is its theory of operation. It simply has a variable KIMG0043orifice that releases boost feedback on the waste gate side of a combination orifice/check valve. It seems to me that it will change the ultimate boost if I am at Wide Open Throttle vs accelerating at a moderate pace. I pondered tossing this out when I figured out how it works. Then I noticed the smaller printing. It states “HIGH PERFORMANCE” right on the label, so I decided to give it a try. I hope to report back with good news.

Life on a Farm

~ joelshaw@sbcglobal.net ~ 5 Comments

I KIMG0034haven’t posted in several days because my parents were in town. We ate a lot, laughed a lot, and picked up chickens. From top to bottom, I call them Red, Red, and Red.  The gentleman at Quality Feed selected these chickens specifically for me! From observations thus far, I think he was picking out the dumb ones that more refined clientele might refuse. They did impress me by being nestled in the coop when I arrived home from dinner. They get points for that. My real disappointment is that the ETA for eggs is several months from now.

KIMG0041The other “farmy” issues this weekend related to tree branches and cats.

Most of the branches shown on the left came crashing down this morning. I’m surprised because they look completely healthy. Could it be due to the weight of the pecans growing on them? I find that kind of hard to believe, but it is currently my only explanation.

The cat issues had to do with the youngest two. They’ve developed new affinity for climbing UP, but theyKIMG0033 lack any interest in climbing DOWN. This has become a daily occurrence. You have to look closely, but you can see them to the right.

I also finally started building a fire pit from river rocks. I will report back on that once I finish and know if it is a success or failure. It has been one of my worst guesstimates so far. I am 400 lbs into concrete and mortar, and it is still tiny. I don’t think I am halfway there.

Freeloaders

~ joelshaw@sbcglobal.net ~ 2 Comments

Can you guess what these cats are doing?

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NOT EARNING THEIR KEEP!

I took this picture today, and it is their typical M.O. I got them to destroy pests, but instead they lay around, eat food, and get stuck in odd places.

El Diablo is the gray tailless one.  He was so named to scare away predators and rodents. It hasn’t seemed to work. The younger cats are named Double Naught and Scarface (AKA Bandit).  Double Naught is an allusion to the Beverly Hillbillies in which Jethro Bodine wanted to be a Double Naught Agent (like Double Naught Seven) and have a license to kill.  The other was named Bandit by the previous owner, but he has since scratched his face climbing around inside of my pool table. Hence, Scarface.

So far, El Diablo (the gray tailless one) has a meager 1 1 /8 recorded kills over the 5 months of our acquaintance. I’ve tallied this as follows:

  • 1/8: Lizard (Only counts as 1/8 of a kill because lizards kill bugs, I like lizards, and the lizard was distracted by chasing a bug.)
  • 7/8: Bird (Only 3/4 for the kill because it wasn’t a pest and +1/8 extra credit because he ate it.)
  • 1/8: Dragonfly (1/8 because it wasn’t really an animal, and I like dragonflies.  On a side note, El Diablo got +1/8 because he shared and let Scarface play with it. That was cancelled by the -1/8 because of his anger when Scarface ate it.)

Double Naught has yet to touch anything living, and I can’t decide if Scarface scores any point for eating the dragonfly. I am leaning towards not.

I will update as they move towards self sufficiency and providing for themselves.

Not Enough Power

~ joelshaw@sbcglobal.net ~ 2 Comments

So no luck with the chicken coop.  The solar panel I was using was labeled as 5 Watts. However, it only put out about 20 mA (.24 Watts) in direct sunlight. That wasn’t even enough to run the power supply.  I assumed that it would put out more than that in the shade. I guess I need to buy a better panel.  More money, and I don’t even have any chickens yet.

 

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On another note, I’ve been struggling with sorting a Buick Grand National for some time now. Today, I figured out that the previous owner had installed an adjustable boost actuator at over 20 psi.  I never noticed how high it was set because I had a big crack in one of the headers. I welded that up last week, and it started blowing off vacuum/boost lines. I guess someone’s solution to low boost was to crank on the actuator rod rather than fixing the problem. I used my air compressor and a pressure regulator to open the waste gate (pictured), and it didn’t fully open until almost 25 psi!  I cranked it back down, and I have a Manual Boost Controller on order.  I can’t wait!  Once I get it tuned back down and running predictably, I can start cranking it back up and spinning the tires!